81.4% of Maltese smokers want to kick the habit

A survey carried out as part of European Commission's 'Ex-Smokers are Unstoppable' campaign in Malta, shows that 81.4% of those who smoke want to kick the habit.

The survey, carried out on a sample of 200 people, also showed that 51.9% of Maltese interviewed believe that smoking is one of the hardest habits to break and 35.1% appreciate that the health benefits of stopping smoking are immediate regardless how long you have been smoking.

The "Ex-Smokers are Unstoppable" celebrates the achievements of the ex-smokers from all over Europe.

The campaign, initiated by the European Commission, offers free help and advice to stop smoking through iCoach, a free online healthstop-smoking tool based on extensive scientific research and clinical experience of psychologists and communication experts. iCoach is now available as an App for Android and iPhones (www.exsmokers.eu/mobile)

When questioned whether smoking was stopping the respondents from doing something, over four in ten of those questioned (43.8%) felt that smoking was getting in the way of doing an activity. The most frequently voiced concern was that smoking prevented respondents from feeling healthy and in control of their health (19.6%), followed by playing sports (13.4%). A further 9.8% said it caused problems in bars, the third most articulated issue.

Echoing the findings, Odette Camilleri, one of the people who registered with iCoach and has quit smoking over the past year, stated that quitting smoking did impact her quality of life because it improved her health. In fact she believes that the primary benefit of quitting smoking is that of a better health. "There are several things which one can do with the money saved, but regaining my health is the only thing that no money can buy, but thanks to quitting smoking I did".

The "Ex-Smokers are Unstoppable" campaign in Malta has been ongoing for the past year and a half and has been stepped up over the past months in Malta thanks to the collaboration with Health Promotion Unit and Malta Medical Student Association. Their collaboration has been proved crucial to extend the outreach of the main messages of the campaign to as many Maltese as possible.